Moving to Singapore from UK at the end of 2008

[toffee68]

Hi All,

Firstly, Great forum!

We are hoping to relocate to Singapore at the end of 2008 and I have a few questions.
We are a family of 5, (three girls 7, 5, 1). I am lookng at a salary of @£75000 plus schooling, housing flights etc.
Questions are: We would like to live in House/Bungalow with garden is possible so the kids have somewhere to run about. What monthly cost would rental be for a 4 bedroom house somewhere near the Tanglin school area? I have seen tons on the web ranging from S$2500 up to S$40000 but none seem to have pictures so am not sur what you get for your money. Have seen some pictures but they never give a price....

We have heard that there is a waiting list for Tanglin school.. Is it possible to apply for a place without actually being in Singapore? IE can we apply now whilst we are still in the UK and then hope it is sorted by the time we get there rather than waiting to apply when we get there.??

My office will be located in the Changi Business park, what is the public transport like from Tanglin area to Changi Biz park? I've heard thatcars are seriously expensive so am looking at the public transport route..

Any other info that would help a British family decide if the move is a good one would be great.

Thanks in advance
Rob

[sprite]

Greetings toffee,

Most schools do allow you to apply even though you are not 'in country' yet as they keep your application fee regardless. If your plans are set, and you have thoroughly investigated your school options, then yes -- I'd get the kids on the list at whatever school you decide on as soon as possible.

There are so many new subway stations coming on line, you should be fine commuting to work. Tanglin and Changi are not very close to each other, I guess the best advise would not to look further west than Tanglin for housing, but to try and split the difference (Holland area, Bukit Timah, Newton, Novena). A solid 4 bedroom house in those areas would run about S $ 15 K/month though.

Good luck with your move.


Forum Members: because I included a link to another website which also handles expat rentals, the Moderators cut out the information, but never bothered to tell me or leave a notation. One can only imagine what else they've been censoring.

[toffee68]

Thanks fo the info Sprite, and thanks for the website which is great. We're really looking forward to it and having moved several times before from country to country just want to get the most info up front that we can so as to make everything go as smootly as poss.

Thanks again for the info!

[Answers?]

Note to sure the Admin's are going to like that.

Advertising a competitor on their real estate portal forum.

[TAJ]

We moved to Singapore 8 months ago with 2 boys aged 8 & 10. I can vouch for Tanglin Trust School - the boys settled in really quickly and the ethos & facilities are excellent. However, there are certainly long waiting lists for all years so I would urge you to get your childrens names down as soon as you can. They will take a deposit from you, and keep you updated with movement on the list / predicted space availability. Good luck!!

[sprite]

Just hold a second here!

Do you mean to tell me -- the moderators went into my post and cut out the information I gave to another poster -- information they themselves do not provide and that the recipient described as 'great', without so much as a PM of apology or a notation?

That is one sorry state of affairs and one this board should be deeply ashamed to support. Such high-flown paranoia is certainly counter-intuitive to the open exchange of ideas.

Here's a thought: rather than butcher people's posts why not respond to the obvious deficits of your own site and rise the to occasion?

[sundaymorningstaple]

sprite,

Greetings toffee,

Most schools do allow you to apply even though you are not 'in country' yet as they keep your application fee regardless. If your plans are set, and you have thoroughly investigated your school options, then yes -- I'd get the kids on the list at whatever school you decide on as soon as possible.

There are so many new subway stations coming on line, you should be fine commuting to work. Tanglin and Changi are not very close to each other, I guess the best advise would not to look further west than Tanglin for housing, but to try and split the difference (Holland area, Bukit Timah, Newton, Novena). A solid 4 bedroom house in those areas would run about S $ 15 K/month though.

Good luck with your move.


Forum Members: because I included a link to another website which also handles expat rentals, the Moderators cut out the information, but never bothered to tell me or leave a notation. One can only imagine what else they've been censoring.

It wasn't the Moderators who removed the real estate link. It was removed by Admin (who own the site). The reasoning is that it's their site to draw eyeballs to "their" real estate portal which is what this whole site url is about. As such it is their right to filter what else is placed on the site. If you had a used car lot would you allow your competitors to place advertising of their cars on your lot? I doubt it seriously..........

This is a free forum so therefore it is entirely within the rights of the owners who maintain this site and it's related costs to determine the policies. If you go to the angry board you will find it's even worse.

I would also suggest that you remove your inflammatory and insinuating remarks as well before the editing of you post takes a turn for the worst. We have had instigators here before and banned due to the same activities. I would hate to see something similar happen again. Forewarned is forearmed.

sms

[sundaymorningstaple]

Just hold a second here!

Do you mean to tell me -- the moderators went into my post and cut out the information I gave to another poster -- information they themselves do not provide and that the recipient described as 'great', without so much as a PM of apology or a notation?

That is one sorry state of affairs and one this board should be deeply ashamed to support. Such high-flown paranoia is certainly counter-intuitive to the open exchange of ideas.

Here's a thought: rather than butcher people's posts why not respond to the obvious deficits of your own site and rise the to occasion?

Here's a though: why don't you use the preview function before hitting the Submit button.......

[sprite]

Just hold a second here!

Do you mean to tell me -- the moderators went into my post and cut out the information I gave to another poster -- information they themselves do not provide and that the recipient described as 'great', without so much as a PM of apology or a notation?

That is one sorry state of affairs and one this board should be deeply ashamed to support. Such high-flown paranoia is certainly counter-intuitive to the open exchange of ideas.

Here's a thought: rather than butcher people's posts why not respond to the obvious deficits of your own site and rise the to occasion?

Here's a though: why don't you use the preview function before hitting the Submit button.......

And what do you find fault with now SMS? Font size? Punctuation? This is getting tedious. Your bullying, your attitude, your judgement. You don't agree with what I have to say - fine. There is no need to harangue me at every turn.

[Superglide]

It wasn't the Moderators who removed the real estate link. It was removed by Admin (who own the site). The reasoning is that it's their site to draw eyeballs to "their" real estate portal which is what this whole site url is about. As such it is their right to filter what else is placed on the site.

This is a free forum so therefore it is entirely within the rights of the owners who maintain this site and it's related costs to determine the policies. If you go to the angry board you will find it's even worse.

I would also suggest that you remove your inflammatory and insinuating remarks as well before the editing of you post takes a turn for the worst. We have had instigators here before and banned due to the same activities. I would hate to see something similar happen again. Forewarned is forearmed.

sms

Indeed this has happened before, it actually made this site lose quite a few members, didn't it?

Of course the admin (no need to use a capital "A" for the guy) has the right to filter and he does own this site but:

Don't the members who make this community also own this forum at least a bit? I wholeheartedly agree with sprite that when he gives information that is greatly appreciated by the original poster / op, it is quite sad to see the admin remove the information, since he regards it as unwanted information of a competitor. Indeed sprite is right that the admin should think twice and rise to the occasion and improve his thing, rather than delete useful information.

At the end of the day it is those giving information here, that makes this an informative site.

It is a free world as you say, so let people speak out. A competitior is just a competitor, nothing more nothing less. Improve and make sure you stay ahead of your competition by having better information. To delete shows a lack of respect and frankly it makes the admin look like a poor guy.

If it was just the information the admin provides himself, nobody would even bother visiting singapore expats dot com.

I am quite surprised actually sms, that you and some of the other mods continuously support and defend the actions of admin pal.

[sundaymorningstaple]

SG,

I wondered how long it would take you.

It's just like everything else, no matter where you go or what you do, always somebody else is calling the shots aren't they in one form or another. We have to learn to live within the system. Some can, some can't and leave either the forum or the country or both. While I may or may not always agree with the policy here, it is not my board. We make suggestions and at times they are listened to and at others........ At the end of the day, It's Pal's deck of cards, his table and his house so he can make the rules as well. Just like the local government saying 82,000 Singaporeans will not be allowed to go the IR's when they are finished.

And I would still say the analogy of a car lot is apt. You wouldn't invite competitors to solicit from your car lot would you? I'd say he looks like a typical businessman. Do you let your neighbouring stalls advertise their foods at your hawker stall? Thought not. As you know, aside from real estate about the only other thing is advertising for personal gain that is frowned upon on this site (well that and the slagging of admins & mods, right? )

[Superglide]

not sure about the comparison sms.

It is not the competitor himself advertising here, it is more kind of word of mouth: sprite giving information that happens to be in favor of the competition so to speak.

Slight difference imho.

But I guess we do agree pal looks rather bad again.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Just hold a second here!

Do you mean to tell me -- the moderators went into my post and cut out the information I gave to another poster -- information they themselves do not provide and that the recipient described as 'great', without so much as a PM of apology or a notation?

That is one sorry state of affairs and one this board should be deeply ashamed to support. Such high-flown paranoia is certainly counter-intuitive to the open exchange of ideas.

Here's a thought: rather than butcher people's posts why not respond to the obvious deficits of your own site and rise the to occasion?

Here's a though: why don't you use the preview function before hitting the Submit button.......

And what do you find fault with now SMS? Font size? Punctuation? This is getting tedious. Your bullying, your attitude, your judgement. You don't agree with what I have to say - fine. There is no need to harangue me at every turn.

sprite,

I'm not real sure what your problem is. It's not like you haven't seen posts edited here before. Nobody is bullying you. Would you rather that admin deleted the entire post or thread? Instead they did like we usually do if a post is salvageable, just delete the solicitation or advertising portion or offending hyperlink. As far as my comment above I was just using your own writing style and telling you that a lot could have been avoided if you had previewed your post. You know - proofread to see if that's actually want you wanted to infer.....

[sprite]

Your own retort has a typo in it SMS. 'Here's a though'. Is this constructive, these petty jabs? I'm railing about censorship and you're talking about typos. I never got personal with you, why not extend the same courtesy to me.

Here's where the car analogy falls apart for me: guy walks onto a car lot and says: I want to buy a used Subaru. The salesman says, we don't have used Subarus, but another customer shopping in the same lot, turns to the guy and says: there is a dealer that does sell used Subarus at this address. Hopefully the salesman goes back to his boss and says: hey, we've had some people asking for used Subarus lately, maybe we should carry them too. This is called responding to the market.

If Pal wants no mention of the competition, he or she should listen to the market and provide what people are looking for. Afterall, isn't one of the missions of this board to do exactly that?

It's not so much that the post was cut, it's the hatchet job it got in the middle of the night without so much as a message or notation. To avoid further frustration and misunderstanding, isn't the entire board better served by an edit which reads something like: post edited by _________ because of violations to Board rules. Then there is accountability and ownership and a clear message to other posters.

If someone said this to your wife, child, father -- would you consider it bullying?:

Sometimes, when poster(s) start slinging mud and making insinuations it's easier to lock a thread to keep the poster(s), who obviously doesn't know when to shut up, from letting their bulldog mouths overload their hummingbird butts. When the posters start new threads for the purpose of continuing the rant, we usually just let 'em go until Admin gets tired of it. Therefore I have unlocked the thread so you can continue your rant......

Well, someone said it to me and it felt like bullying.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Let me see if I got this right. You are saying: If YOU own a used car dealership but I bought a car from your competitor and liked the car then it's okay if I (a third party) come over to your used car lot in the night and post signs advertising your competitors products on your turf. Now have I got it straight?

Want a shovel?